Picture of the Day · NASA
Pathfinder on Mars
2026-07-04
On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.
via NASA APOD
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 8.68
- Orbital period
- 1335.012683716683
Show 14 more facts
- provisional designation
- 1984 SF4
- time of discovery or invention
- 1971-01-22
Article · Русский
(4229) Плевицкая (лат. Plevitskaya) — типичный астероид главного пояса, который был открыт 22 января 1971 года советским астрономом Людмилой Черных в Крымской астрофизической обсерватории и назван в честь русской певицы Надежды Плевицкой. 4229 Plevitskaya Discovered 1971-01-22 by Chernykh, L. I. at Nauchnyj. Named in memory of Nadezhda Vasil'evna Plevitskaya (1884—1940), a splendid Russian singer who sparkled on the stages of Russia, Europe and America. Many great connoisseurs of Russian art called her "Russian skylark" and "nightingale". Leonid Sobinov sang with her, and Sergej Rakhmaninov accompanied for her. REF: DISCOVERY.DB; MPC 26762 — Discovery Circumstances
Abstract from DBpedia / Wikipedia · CC BY-SA